madden ultimate team takes this to another level by having you pay and also grind at the same time and then a year later your progress gets reset

Back in my day we unlocked characters by pressing a series of buttons in a specific order and at the right moment

We had to, because your progression was deleted except for the score on the leaderboards between rounds. We also had to put coins in to play.

Up, up, down, down…

I really miss cheat codes. It was a special kind of fun to explore all the cheats, clip through everything, be invincible. I hate it when developers force a certain experience on me. I bought it, I should be allowed to play however I want.

Back in my day, we unlocked characters by meeting a specific list of obscure criteria, which are only possible at random times, during gameplay that are only ever hinted at through a cryptic set of clues hidden throughout the game.

I completely forgot that doing all the bullshit for Reptile was just to fight him and get a 10 million score bonus for defeating him, not to actually play as him.

“We picked princess to float two and a half screens. Then we would defeat birdo, and play a slot machine which we called a one-arm bandit on account of the crank being made from the old fake arms they gave civil war amputeeeees.”

It felt rewarding.

Was just playing Sonic Triple Trouble 16bit and unlocked Knuckles at the end, which not only allows you to play with him but the levels/story line is unique. Pleasant surprise!

I think most people probably aren’t looking at the community name. Confused me too.